Daily Times

Pakistani Christians are now regularly making national and international headlines, not because they have achieved something, but because of their suffering. Thus, Pakistan is being maligned by the international community because of the government’s poor policies and obliviousness to the Christians’ growing issues. They have been suffering for decades in all walks of life, but the government has not been paying any attention because they have no voice. Many Pakistani Christian leaders have already moved to western countries for better futures for their families and have applied for asylum, while those remaining have their suitcases packed because there is no one willing to try and heal their wounds. Christians continue to be pushed to the edge, to the point where they may have no choices left, other than being killed or retaliating. We have seen the example of the Youhanabad church attack, which is still proving to be a hard pill to swallow for Pakistan’s different factions. The recent attack on Sandha and Dhup Sarri’s Christians is the latest addition to their grievances, whilst they are still trying to recover from old injuries. It has been more than two months and there is a lot of fear and despair in the air, which is why many of the residents are still afraid of returning to their homes.

The police continue to arrest people without any evidence for their alleged involvement in the lynching of two Muslims. This culture has been promoted during the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) government and there are now dozens of examples of Christians being lynched. I wish that the government would learn its lesson now and make human life a priority instead of gardens and bridges. The blasphemy law is being widely misused against minorities — a fact that has been admitted by the media and politicians as well. Sadly, even after so much tumult and bloodshed, the government has failed to take appropriate action to stop the ongoing misuse of the blasphemy law and ensure security and protection for Christians.

Christians consider themselves targets, which is true because there are now several examples where one individual, like Humayun, is accused of committing blasphemy by someone without any proof and the whole Christian community is attacked; their towns are set on fire, churches are rampaged and desecrated and several innocent people, who have nothing to do with the alleged crime, are killed. Such attacks against any community and the killing of innocent people should not be permitted at any cost and, if they persist, it is either due to the government’s failure or with its approval. It is common knowledge that people use the blasphemy law as an easy way to settle personal vendettas, yet there is no sign of any changes being made to stop its misuse. The government’s neglect of this issue continues to contribute to the Christians’ miseries and could cost us dearly. The majority of these cases occur in Punjab, where the PML-N has been ruling for several years.

We have recently heard statements from Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who said that the lynching on Sunday was “the worst form of terrorism”. Such attacks happen everywhere but he does not seem to have a problem when the victim is not a Muslim. Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has said that the culprits involved in burning the two people alive will be arrested at all costs because Pakistan belongs to every person who lives here. But perhaps this does not apply to Christians, who have been under attack for decades and several members of the Christian community have been lynched. Even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s action plans do not seem to take minorities into account. On the other hand, the Sindh government has done a marvellous job by passing two bills recently: one about including Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s speech of Aug 11, 1947 in school curriculums and another about making the mental health assessment of blasphemy suspects mandatory. Instead of making grand statements, the PML-N leadership should follow in the footsteps of the Sindh government. They should bring about similar changes in Punjab, where they are most needed and where they are ruling with a majority.

Although an Anti-Terrorism Court has recently charged 106 suspects for beating and burning a Christian couple in a brick kiln furnace in Kot Radha Kishan last November, people are not taking the charges seriously because there is no precedent. Interestingly, there are several examples where perpetrators are treated like heroes and enjoy impunity. Mumtaz Qadri, who has many followers now, is just one example. Now, his appeal is set to be heard in the Supreme Court, while Aasia Bibi’s is still pending. In Rimsha Masih’s case, Imam Jadoon was freed for burning pages containing verses from the holy Quran and falsely implicating her. In Sangla Hill, Muhammad Saleem was not questioned even after he admitted to burning the Quran Palace to incriminate Yousaf Masih. If the administration and judiciary had dealt with these cases mindfully, the situation could have been different today and no one could dare to take the law into their own hands.

Almost all Muslim countries have a blasphemy laws in their statutes, but we hardly hear of such cases elsewhere. If anyone commits blasphemy, they are dealt with according to the law. Yet in Pakistan, the accused are more likely to be killed by vigilantes rather than being handed over to the police. This is all because of the government’s lack of will and poor policies. We need to learn from the Afghan girl, Farkhunda’s case, whose perpetrators were brought to justice just recently.

Is the government going to take any action against those who were involved in attacking Dhup Sarri, or deal with Humayun’s case, in light of the law passed recently by the Sindh Assembly? Although this is a difficult challenge, it has to be dealt with at the end of the day, so let us deal with it now. I pray that God fills the Pakistani government with a sense of urgency and causes them to become aware of the injustice that continues to increase against Christians and other religious minorities, so that it does not allow fear and intimidation to overcome it, but makes decisions with wisdom and diligence.

The writer is a freelance columnist